Morrisons sees 'strong' Christmas

Morrisons said it expects 2010 to be challenging

The supermarket group Morrisons has reported "strong" Christmas trading, ahead of broadly comparable figures from rivals Sainsbury's and Tesco.

Like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of new store openings, rose 6.5% in the six weeks to 3 January.

The Bradford-based group is cautious on future consumer spending and expects the market to remain "challenging".

Morrisons is still looking for a chief executive after Marc Bolland left in December to join Marks and Spencer.

TRADING UPDATES AT A GLANCE Tesco - like-for-like sales, excluding petrol and VAT, up 4.9% in the six weeks to 9 January M&S - like-for-like sales up 0.8% in three months to 26 December John Lewis - revenues of £500.8m in five weeks to 2 January, like-for-like sales up 12.7% Asda - said it had a "solid" Christmas Ocado - like-for-like sales up 30% in four weeks to 26 December Sainsbury's - like-for-like sales, excluding petrol and VAT, up 4.2% in the 13 weeks to 2 January Co-op - reported a 4.8% increase in sales, excluding fuel, in the 12 weeks to 2 January Christmas sales beat expectations

Sainsbury's like-for-like sales rose 4.2% in the 13 weeks to 2 January, while Tesco's rose 4.9% in the six weeks to 9 January. Both sets of figures exclude petrol and VAT.

Asda has yet to report its Christmas trading figures.

"Our distinctive offer, eye-catching promotions and relentless focus on our core strengths of fresh food and great value combined to help customers " said Chairman Sir Ian Gibson.

The group's profit expectations for the full year remain the same.

The UK high street held up surprisingly well over Christmas. Figures from the British Retail Consortium show that UK retailers had their best December growth for eight years.

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